Monday, August 25, 2008

Final Day of Training

Today was the final day of training. It helped a bit because we went over the Sano Curriculum, which is important to know. We we're all supposed to get our lesson plans for the next few days but mine haven't come in yet so I'll have to play the waiting game. We also went over the Ashikaga ALT's introductions. This really helped because it showed me how I should act around the students while giving my introduction. It gave me an idea of the speed I can talk. I will need to make tons of gestures, bring in props, and be happy and smile, most of which sounds like common sense but when you see it in person it makes it stick.

After training Astrea (ALT from Sano) got her car! This thing was tiny, like half the size of a dodge neon hahaha. Guess the name of it? The Mitsubishi Guppy. That's right, its a Guppy. FIERCE! It's black with a grey interior and has a snowman attena attachment haha. A couple of the other ALTs are going to get cars soon, this will be awesome because we can actually drive places instead of having to bike everywhere and we can plan trips and stuff if we want.

Driving here seems like a nightmare but Astrea did a good job. She was following Asumi (a staff member at Joytalk who is awesome for many reasons) and I was in the car with Asumi and Oliver. After we drove to Sano from Ujiie we all went to a ramen shop. I wasn't hungry but the others got some cool looking ramen. The ramen was presented in a fashion I've never seen but was neat. First just the noodles and topping ingredients are in a hot bowl. Next the person whos eating it holds a piece of paper in front of them and the waitress or waiter pours the liquid or broth into the bowl and it cooks all the ingredients together. Pretty sweet, but you have to wait two minutes for the bowl to cool down so if you're really hungry its not the food for you haha.

After the ramen shop we all got dropped off and went our separate ways. On the bike ride home I stopped at a book store, electronics store, and my super market. At the bookstore I just looked around for the naruto comic and finally found it but it was wrapped so I couldn't look inside haha! damn! I also saw tons of funny old used movies and CD's like Ricky Martin and Space Jam ahha. The place also had Yu-gi-oh cards hahah!

After that I biked to the electronics store I've never been to before. I found a webcam for about 24 dollars which is a good price. I'll consider buying it soon, or maybe I'll wait till my next pay check, I haven't decided yet. I just went there to check prices. On the way out of the store I noticed a DragonballZ capsule machine. I had to buy one .. hah 200 yen.

Finally I went to the grocery store and bought some more grocerices. I found an awesome beef green bean sweet/spicy sauce combo thing for about 380 yen which is pretty cheap. I made it with some rice and it was delicious. I think it was meant to feed two people but I ate the whole thing along with a cup and a half of rice lol.

I think tomorrow (if it's not raining!!!) I'm going to bring my camera and explore more of Sano. I'll also do some laundry now that I know how to operate it haha. I have a couple more household items to buy too.

I think this job will be alot of fun once school starts. I really just want to start teaching, and talking to Japanese people. I also want to get out and do more because my apartment is boring haha, but at the same time I want to save money so I'll go out when I can.